Ukrainian special forces practiced fighting in the city in Pripyat – SME.sk

KIEV. The Ukrainian army has chosen the abandoned city of Pripyat to train in the built-up area, which was displaced in 1986 after a catastrophe in the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Troops fired on abandoned buildings and fired grenades or mortars on Friday, Reuters reported.

“Special forces, the National Guard and the police trained in the snowy streets (the town of Pripyat) near abandoned Soviet hotels and buildings, some of which still have a scythe and a hammer on the façade. .

Ukrainian troops undertook an exercise at a time of heightened tensions with Russia. The drink is located about 16 kilometers from the border with Belarus, where military exercises will take place at the end of the month with the participation of about 30,000 Russian soldiers. Some Western officials fear that the exercises could provide cover for the invasion, whether directly from Russia or through Belarusian territory.

“We practiced fighting with paramilitary militias in the built-up area,” said the soldier, who did not want to be named.

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The New York Times reported last month that the Kiev government had moved troops to the closed zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in early autumn. According to Sky News, Kiev has sent about 7,500 border guards to the area over the past two months.

The dilapidated town of Toad was once home to about 50,000 people. It grew at the same time as the construction of a nearby nuclear power plant and served its workers and their families. It was supposed to become a model city for power engineers, but after a nuclear accident it became a ghost town.

The tragic incident took place on Saturday, April 26, 1986 in the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl power plant, less than 60 seconds after the start of the stress test.

Immediately during the disaster, 31 power plant workers and firefighters died, mostly from an acute radiation sickness. However, thousands more people later succumbed to radiation-related diseases.